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Monday, June 9, 2008

So, today I started out by getting gas in town prior to going to work. As you can see, the gas price is high. The $4.21 and 9 tenths shown is for 85 octane gas, which isn't even sold in most places. In most places, the lowest octane you can buy is 87 octane.

Although I have an old truck, as possibly you can tell from the picture, I go ahead and buy the 85 octane gas. The elevation in eastern Nevada is high; it's also high at the lake and everywhere in between. It's okay to assume that you can lower your octane rating by 1 for every 1000 feet in elevation gained over sea level, just don't immediately, then, cruise back to sea level.

My truck burns a little oil, and is almost at 190,000 miles. It's doing okay. It's a 1992 Chevy half ton with two spare tires in the back and a nice, though slightly rusty Caravan camper. Those are very good metal camper shells that are made in Reno. That's why blue sticker on the truck says, "Nevada's Best." Because it is.

As I maybe mentioned once before, it's really not a desert truck: it don't have no stinking AC. That's a bad paraphrase from - what, oh - Treasure of the Sierra Madre ("We don't need no stinking badges.") For some reason, I'm always thinking that quote is from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Badges remind me of the Test Site, and the Test Site reminds me of Vegas.

My non-desert truck has been up the Alcan 2 times (one of those times, it went part way up on the ferry from Prince Rupert to Skagway), and down the Alcan 2 times. I've been up the Alcan 3 times and down 2 times. The odd discrepancy was because I rode up the Alcan with my dad when he drove the U-Haul that was carrying all my stuff.

I highly recommend driving the Alcan to anyone who has at least two weeks to spare - and I highly recommend having at least one month to spare rather than two weeks. I'm looking forward to hearing about Wayfarer Scientista's journey down the Alcan this summer, and am looking forward to seeing her photos.